Symphony of Hyrule
by Nex
Summary: Five years have passed since Gannondorf's banishment at the hands of the Hero of Time. The reconstruction of Hyrule, spearheaded by the newly coronated Queen Zelda, was nearly complete. But nothing lasts for ever.
1. Chapter 1

   
  
   
  
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: SYMPHONY OF HYRULE  
  
   
  
BOOK 1: PRELUDE OF THE SHEIKAH  
  
   
  
CHAPTER ONE: SMALL TOWN LIFE  
  
    
  
Napouro was a small town, made even smaller by the rather dismal events of the last decade, but it got by. In that, everyone agreed. The mayor agreed; the mayor's wife agreed, and most importantly, all of the townspeople agreed. Most of the men had been sent away to war when Ganondorf had risen to power, but now that that wonderful chapter in the history of Hyrule had finally passed thanks to the Legendary Hero of Time, they had all returned home three years ago at the very latest. It had been five years since Link, the little Hylian who had believed himself to be Kokiri and had won the princess' heart over, had permanently defeated Ganon, the wielder of the Triforce of Power, and sent him into the Void. The boy had returned to his own time period- whatever that meant- and had taken the Triforce of Courage with him. The Triforce of Wisdom remained with Princess Zelda of Hyrule, who had been coronated as queen shortly after and had spearheaded the reconstruction of her devastated homeland. In the five years between the time when Ganon was banished and peace returned, most everything was put back in order- at least somewhat. The palace had been mostly rebuilt in a new location- taking barely half the time that its original construction did. The Zora's Kingdom had finally thawed out with the exception of a few small ice floes here and there in the famous Zora's Fountain, and the aquatic people had found a new member of Jabu-Jabu's whale-like species to worship: Jabu Jr. Under the rule of King Link the Goron, the Stone-eating Goron People had completely repaired their old village to an amazing grandeur never before seen from the cave-dwellers. The Gerudo had elected a new ruler to replace Nabooru, who had become a sage, and the Kokiri had gotten more than used to the Deku Sprout as their new leader. Even the members of Kakariko Village had succeeded in completely restoring all that was lost and flushing the evil out of their graveyard and well. Thanks entirely to the Hero who had never known a true childhood; the land of Hyrule was experiencing its most prosperous time in ages.  
  
But unfortunately, all good things must eventually come to an end, and as the good people of Napouro were about to learn; when the pendulum swings, it swings hard.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
None of this entered the thoughts of Rei Elanis, though, and he never expected the part that he was to play in his world's history. As for right now, Reiman Toran Elanis was more concerned with education, girls, and what exactly he was going to eat for breakfast.  
  
The summer had just begun, and with it came the carefree times that could only be truly enjoyed by a lad at the far edge of his teens who was about to enter the dark and scary world of Adulthood. The Festival of Approaching Harvest was about to begin in three days- not that it meant anything to the people of Napouro, a town that was about as far from agriculture as it could get. The festival did serve to liven up the people, however, even if they didn't really care about what it meant. Then came the Remembrance of Time, usually observed with pilgrimages to the Temple of Time. In Hyrule, the summer was a time of celebration. It was a wonder that any of the farmers could get their work done, what with all the partying going on next door, and all.  
  
But once again, Rei wasn't thinking about this. There were only three things on Rei's mind. Education, Girls, and Breakfast. Since the summer had begun, education was slowly taking a back seat, and Rei figured that he'd be able to forget about it entirely for a while starting next week. And besides- as he had to slowly realize while he browsed through Napouro's small marketplace in search of something to eat that morning- he had other, more important things to think about at the moment.  
  
"Turning twenty this week, eh?" Came a voice from behind him. He turned around to meet Gabe Raveil, his best friend.  
  
"You are going to remember your old buddies when you grow up, right?" Gabe asked in a semi-sarcastic tone.  
  
"No, of course not." Rei smirked back at him. "I'm going to forget all of my old childhood friends and get myself royally screwed in the future. Isn't that what we adults do?"  
  
Gabe burst into laughter before giving Rei a friendly slap on the back that nearly knocked him down.  
  
"I'm only a few months behind you, old buddy. And if you even think of abandoning us, I'm going to send an assassin or two after you- isn't that what we adults are supposed to do?"  
  
"No, only overweight mayors."  
  
They both shared a good laugh at that one- about ten years ago or so, Napouro's previous mayor had gotten it in his head to hire the best assassin he could, and eliminate all competition during the election year. He had been cheap, and would only spring for an inept, half-blind Lizalfos. Needless to say, the mayor in question was not re-elected.  
  
"I can gain weight," Gabe replied, somehow keeping a straight face while he did. "Isn't that what adults do?"  
  
Rei held up a finger. "One more week, buddy, and I'll be joining them."  
  
Gabe smiled at him, and held out a hand. "Congratulations, Rei. You finally made it."  
  
Rei bypassed the handshake and hugged Gabe, his best friend for as long as he could remember. "Thanks- you're next."  
  
"Go jump off a cliff," Gabe used an old inside joke back at them.  
  
"Happy birthday to you, too." He picked up an apple. "Want one? My treat." he asked, simultaneously paying the short, wrinkled man whom was selling them.  
  
"No, thanks. My mamma always said never to take apples from strange grownups," Gabe joked back, reaching for the first thing he could find on the cart and paying for it before he saw what it was. "I was never much for apples," He said, taking a bite out of a Kokiri Mushroom.  
  
Kokiri mushrooms are not made for Hylian consumption- it is a known fact that they taste like ashes freshly swept out of the fireplace. They are best used for medicinal purposes, or to make young children vomit up poisonous food.  
  
The expression on Gabe's face could not accurately be described in any of Hyrule's many languages.  
  
Rei laughed and turned back to the cart, paying the wrinkled guy the rest of the money owed for an entire mushroom when he heard a deep yet very gentlemanly voice behind him.  
  
"Having a birthday is a very special time, young man. Especially the one where you finally cross over."  
  
Rei turned around to see someone who he had never laid eyes on before. The man was tall and rather slender. His hair was long, reaching down to his shoulders, and was a strange lavender-ish colour not uncommon to people from the Far South. His face looked almost totally ageless, and was decorated by a warm, friendly grin. His eyes were a warm, deep blue.  
  
The man wore what was very obviously a nobleman's garb, emblazoned with the symbol of a Triforce branded onto a Phoenix- the Hylian Royal Service's emblem. This most likely designated him as either a soldier or a personal Aide of the queen. He wore a smallish red cape that was drawn around his left arm and side. The man offered his free hand to Rei in an obviously friendly gesture.  
  
"I am Amadeus de Castillo," he said, "Vizier to the Queen. And you?"  
  
Rei somehow managed to keep his shock at meeting such a VIP in his hometown from causing his jaw to literally fall off its hinges. He took the hand, and offered a slight, nervous shake.  
  
"It's me!" Rei sputtered out nervously, and got a very strange and confused look from Amadeus.  
  
He blinked a few times. "Sorry, I'm just nervous," he said after taking a good deep breath or two to calm himself down. "My name's Reiman Elanis- nobody calls me that, though. It's just Rei."  
  
Amadeus grinned, obviously understanding the boy's nervous gaffe a few seconds ago. "Well, then- Rei. From your reaction I would venture a guess that you don't get many visitors of my- shall we say- type here in Napouro. I suppose I should explain myself, of course."  
  
Rei nodded, not daring to speak lest he should make a fool of himself yet again.  
  
"I'm on a short leave for a few weeks, and I've decided to make a point of visiting some of the unrecognized artifacts of Old Hyrule before I return to my duties."  
  
"Old Hyrule?" Rei asked, knowing what Amadeus meant but still in perfect possession of scrambled brains.  
  
"Old Hyrule- you should know this- was the original kingdom from back in the days before the Sheikah when the First King ruled over all of the world."  
  
Rei nodded again. "I'm sorry, I do know that- my brains were just scrambled."  
  
Amadeus chuckled a bit in that. Rei had already decided that he liked him a bit.  
  
"Just forget that I'm a celebrity for right now, please. I am interested in this town's Heartstone."  
  
Rei blinked twice. "The Heartstone? You mean the keystone in the center of the town? What would you want with that? Is it valuable?"  
  
Amadeus nodded. "That's probably it, and yes, it's very valuable- If it's real, that is. If you'll take me to it, I'd be very grateful."  
  
Rei shrugged and led the man to the town's Keystone, still rather amazed at who it was who he was casually chatting with at the moment.; He shot a quick glance back to make sure that Gabe hadn't fallen off the face of the earth and saw that his old buddy had busied himself chatting up three of the local girls. Gabe took a second to wave at Rei, and Rei waved back. It amused him to realize that he had apparently missed the part where Amadeus said that he was Queen Zelda's Vizier. At this point it was still like a very strange dream. Only dreams made less sense than one of the top ranking officials in all of Hyrule asking to see an old hunk of rock belonging to a very quaint small town.  
  
"We're here," Rei commented, coming to a stop in the middle of the small town square.  
  
Amadeus stopped, folding his arms. "Where is it?" he asked.  
  
Rei pointed down at his feet. "The stone was kept on a pedestal until about thirty years ago when someone threatened to steal it. It's set in the ground in the middle of town now."  
  
Amadeus nodded. "It's a wonder that no one else has tried in the mean time," he commented, looking down at the stone in front of Rei. It was a black half-moon, one foot across, and was set in the middle of the town, in the middle of the crossroads, so that one could easily walk or drive over it.  
  
No wonder they call it the Keystone, Amadeus smirked as he thought to himself, I wonder if any of them know what it's really for. He knelt down near it, and began examining the stone.  
  
"How much of this stone's back history do you know? Anything about how it got here?" he asked, not looking up from it.  
  
Rei shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think that anybody here does, really. It's just been passed down from family to family over the years- that type of thing."  
  
Amadeus nodded from his position on the ground. "Yes, yes.... that kind of thing." He pulled out a small leather pouch. "Stand back, kid. I'm going to divine something."  
  
Rei nodded, having basically no real knowledge of magic except that it was dangerous, and stepped back a few paces.  
  
Amadeus spread a purplish powder over the stone in some sort of a circular design. He waved his hand over it, and muttered something under his breath. The powder lit in a small greenish flame. It burned brightly over the powder for a few seconds, before literally sinking into the strange design that the powder was making. Amadeus pursed his lips as he watched it intently. Rei peered over to see what was happening, but between Amadeus' cloak and hair, most of what was going on was neatly obscured.  
  
The powder disappeared completely, but a small triangular symbol, formed from three glowing triangles, lit up brightly enough that covering it with an entire bushel of hay would not have hidden it- much. Amadeus shielded his eyes slightly with his hand, and stood up. Rei simply gawked like any slack-jawed local teenager. The light lasted a full two minutes like that.  
  
When the flaring green light finally died down, Amadeus simply wiped away the powder, gathered what he could back into the pouch, and smirked.  
  
"I've always found it funny that such valuable artifacts always end up in the middle of nowhere. Wouldn't you agree?"  
  
There was no response. He looked up at Rei, and saw that the youth was still staring down at the stone blankly, as if expecting it to light up in fireworks and dance a jig.  
  
"It's a basic trick involving mushroom powder. It's really not that impressive, you know." Amadeus looked at him for another few seconds. "You may return to Earth now."  
  
Rei snapped out of his little trance and looked back up at him.  
  
Amadeus waved a hand at him. "Don't worry about it. Responding is optional. I'd just like you to know that you have one of the only three Heartstones in existence half-buried in your little hometown, and that I'm probably going to send some people down soon to study it."  
  
Rei remained speechless. Amadeus simply shrugged again at the young man whose brain was evidentially broken for the time being.  
  
A woman, not quite young but definitely no where near old walked up behind Amadeus; leading a large grey horse. She was rather tall, and clothed in a white robe-like gown. Her dark hair and slanted eyes typified her as being from one of the Eastern lands- although probably not much farther East than Kasuto, telling from her paler skin tone. Amadeus nodded to her, and took the reins of the greyish stallion. She had an air of nobility and beauty about her.  
  
"Thank you, Miyu," He commented rather quietly, and turned back to Rei, who was slowly returning to the land of the living.  
  
"Thank you for showing me to the stone, Rei, and I hope you have a wonderful birthday." he said as he mounted the horse. The woman gave a slight curtsy and offered Rei a polite smile. Rei had a lot of difficulty in remaining focused on anything else.  
  
"It's nothing, really," He said, putting on a smile of his own. "I'm just glad I could help."  
  
Amadeus nodded again. "I will send some people this way soon to study it. I'll have Ms. Brahms, my assistant here, see to it." Miyu offered Rei another smile- man, she was gorgeous. Amadeus offered him one last nod, and gave a slight wave before he and his aide both left the small town on Napouro.  
  
Rei waved back, and then went on to enjoying his last week of childhood.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
Lord Amadeus de Castillo was a man who made use of his time. As the head Vizier to the Queen, he had learned that time was a precious commodity that had to be weighed and measured carefully. It hadn't taken him very long to realize that proper managing of his time would allow him to do almost anything. Anything at all. And all that he had to sacrifice for it was sleep. Well, most sleep- he scheduled a solid five hours late almost every night. Another thing that he had learned was that vacation time could be the most productive of all.  
  
Amadeus rode up to the annex building behind Hyrule's royal castle that served as his home, personal library, etc. He slowed his horse down to allow Miyu Brahms to open the gates for him. She dismounted her steed as she unlocked both large doors and lightly forced them open. She stood outside as if waiting for something.  
  
An extremely large, wolf-like dog bounded up to the doorway, and nearly tackled his mistress before calming down and quietly licking her hand. She stroked the fur around its neck, bent over, and calmly gave it a light kiss.  
  
"Good boy, Galyer. That's good... stay calm. Mommy's home now." She spoke to the dog softly. The only real warmth that Miyu Brahms had had in her was reserved for her pet. "Have you been keeping this place safe for us?" She asked just as softly. Galyer looked up and gave what could only be interpreted as a grin. Miyu smiled and went on stroking his fur.  
  
"I hate to be rude," Amadeus broke in, "But would you please move the happy reunion somewhere else so I can actually go into my own house?"  
  
Miyu shot him a bemused look and whispered something else into her dog's ear. Galyer's eyes flashed in an unsettling manner, then he ran back off into the building. Miyu nodded back to Amadeus as she led her horse in.  
  
Later, in his study, Amadeus unwrapped the small leather pouch that contained a relatively useless powder.  
  
"What was that all about, anyway?" Miyu asked him from the doorway. "I understand everything about the stone, but why the fancy light tricks?"  
  
He turned his head toward her while he fished through the powder. "I think it helped a bit. The fancy triforce symbol didn't prove anything, but it helped dislodge this..." He grasped a small black splinter of stone.  
  
"I saw that a piece was flaking off, so I intentionally set the powder to burn it loose. While the kid was still mystified at my little show, I palmed this with the rest of the powder." he held up the splinter as he turned around toward her. "I present to you, a small chip of a Heartstone."  
  
Miyu leaned against the doorway and folded her arms. "And your reason? I hardly think that we can do anything with that-n it is a little on the small side."  
  
Amadeus nodded. He walked up to a small glass vial that he had leaning against a rack. "You're entirely right. About the most that I could do with this little splinter is make a little kid choke to death on it. I brought it here because I couldn't exactly run tests on the whole stone while it's stuck in the middle of that town's street, now, could I? The idiots apparently decided to make it a part of their pavement." He opened the vial and dropped the splinter in. The liquid bubbled a bit. "I hate small townsfolk. They always think that they know everything, and then they go and do something totally stupid like that." He walked over to another vial and mixed some of its contents in with the first. He set both of them down.  
  
Walking over to the doorway, he continued. "There. In about two minutes we should know for sure whether or not the fancy keystone is what we're looking for."  
  
Miyu leaned her head on his shoulder and yawned tiredly. "I certainly hope that it is this time. How long have we been looking for this?"  
  
"Long enough," Amadeus replied as he ran his fingers through his chief aide and informal lover's hair. "I swear, if this one isn't it, I'm going to burn these small, artifact-ridden towns. Just torch them all, one at a time."  
  
"Good idea," she muttered, grinning devilishly. "I'll gladly help. The young men in those towns all seem to think that I'm for sale."  
  
"That's because the local girls all look like horses with thyroid problems. Of course, they totally fit in with their male counterparts... it must be all the inbreeding." He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. Letting it out, Amadeus let go of all of the day's multiple little stress points, and tried to focus on the helpful calming effect that Miyu had on him. Her personality was the essence of a pure nobility, and people generally liked her. Most of the time, she was silent in public- but it was the type of silence that signified a deep, careful thought.   
  
She was devoted not because of an underlying passion for a cause- or for a man- but simply because she had chosen a path in life, and had decided to stick with it. Really, she had been that way all her life. Less sociable than anyone else in her hometown of Kasuto, but far more efficient than any of them. It was a known fact that Ms. Brahms was capable of managing basically any task, and that was what had caught Amadeus attention first. All the other details could be changed very easily. He needed at least a mild magic user to be working under him, so he trained her in the use of Magic until she was nearly at his level. he needed someone who, although being quiet and reserved, didn't make a bad impression on any important people- and she hadn't even needed any coaching for the job. All of those reasons made Miyu Brahms the ideal assistant. She was the essence of nobility at times, the essence of reason at others. And frankly, Amadeus loved her. The only reason why he hadn't already married her by this time was that she would have had to forfeit her position as his personal assistant.  
  
Amadeus' train of thought was perfectly shattered by the sounds of two vials exploding, their pieces clattering on the stone floor of the study.  
  
Miyu started, and jerked her head up, accidentally bashing Amadeus in the left temple. He rubbed the side of his head and went over to the table.  
  
"This wasn't what I expected... which probably means that it's what I wanted. Right, Miyu?"  
  
"If you'll excuse me, Ama," She said, bowing, "I would like to feed Galyer right now."  
  
"Oh, sure, go right ahead and leave me in my moment of discovery," He growled sarcastically at her.  
  
"I'll clean it up later, but he tends to get destructive when he doesn't get his dinner on time."  
  
"You're trying to avoid me, aren't you?" He asked jokingly.  
  
She nodded. "Of course. I am trying to discreetly avoid you while you go into mad-discovery mode. Have fun!" she replied as she left the room and shut the door not a bit loudly behind her. Amadeus laughed out loud, and then went over to check the splinter. It was glowing a reddish-orange.  
  
He carefully picked it up- despite its current colour, it was as cold as ice. He dried it off and studied it, finally catching the golden lettering that appeared on one side of it.  
  
"Hm... It's written in the right language, but... Damn, it's too small to actually read." He stopped and grinned.  
  
"It doesn't matter, anyway. I can always read it on the stone itself later." he put the splinter down and turned around.  
  
"Mendelssohn!" he shouted in no particular direction, and stood with his arms folded as the little dwarfish creature appeared in the corner of the room and took a bow.  
  
Mendelssohn was an old, wrinkled, three-foot-tall thing of no discernable origin whatsoever. He wore a yellow robe and a black fur-lined Cossak-style hat. His beady eyes, small nose, and long mustache made him look almost like a strange parody of the typical bent-over wizened sorcerer. His skin was a dull pinkish.  
  
"What do you require of me, my Lord Amadeus?" The little whatever said as he bowed. Amadeus knelt down to his level.  
  
"I think I've finally found a piece of the Heartstone, Mendelssohn," he grinned at him, "And I'd like you to retrieve it for me."  
  
Mendelssohn nodded and wrung his hands in glee as he listened. It had been too long since he had had a fresh, new job like this one. Amadeus spoke, and Mendelssohn listened. Elsewhere in the annex building, Miyu Brahms grinned as she fed her pet that didn't seem quite entirely like a dog. She had more than a fair idea of what orders were being discussed, and only wished that she could be the one who executed them. But, being the only official attaché to Amadeus meant that it was her direct responsibility to work for him unofficially only when nobody was looking her way. Either way, the very nature of what they were doing made her want it to be in her hands as opposed to those of a complete madman like Mendelssohn. It was just too critical to entrust to anyone else if at all possible. 


	2. Chapter 2

   
  
CHAPTER 2: MENDELSSOHN GOES OVERBOARD  
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
As far as impish goblins went, Mendelssohn was rather fortunate. Unlike others of his kind who were forced to hide out in chimneys and pull pranks for meager leftovers of dinner, Mendelssohn had been born in the midst of the Spider Moon, and was thus blessed with enough magic power to do what he liked to do most- break things and kill people. And break things was what he planned to do.  
  
"Mendelssohn, I want the Heartstone, and only the Heartstone," Amadeus had told him. "Take it by whatever means necessary, but please do so quietly and discreetly. I don't want any of this traced to me. Do you understand?"  
  
The goblin nodded and stroked one side of his large, white, bushy mustache. "You don't want any evidence that you might possibly be involved, right?"  
  
Amadeus had glanced at him suspiciously. "You are correct. I don't want any evidence left there. The boy had said that there were threats to steal it in the past- try to make it look like a typical theft."  
  
"This will require some liberties on my part, my lord."  
  
Amadeus cocked his head back, and raised one dark eyebrow. "Liberties?"  
  
"Why, yes, my lord. A great deal of liberties," Mendelssohn replied, bowing like a court jester. "To make it look like a theft, I will have to rent the help of some thieves..."  
  
Amadeus looked at him sharply. "Then why do I even need to hire you if you can't pull off a single, simple assignment? Why don't I just hire the thieves, and remove you from the equation? Why not?"  
  
"Don't forget, my lord, you need three of us for-"  
  
"I don't care about that!" Amadeus snapped at him. "I can always use you for that, or hire someone more skilled."  
  
"Yes, yes, you could, my lord... but don't forget who it was who first told you about the Hear-"  
  
"I already knew about the Heartstone, Mendelssohn. What I want to know is, what do you plan on doing to that town in order to get the stone?"  
  
"Nothing too severe, but I guarantee that all traces of your part in this will be properly... erased."  
  
"Watch how you erase it."  
  
"I will. But please allow me to do what I think is necessary."  
  
"Just get out of here and get the stone!" Amadeus snapped at the little dwarf, then regained his composure. It wasn't like him to lose his patience- except when it concerned a certain impish employee of his who was quite less than official.  
  
Mendelssohn grinned deeply, although he waited until Amadeus could no longer see his face before he did it.  
  
He had such a way with words, Mendelssohn did. Usually people got so irritated at him that they let him have whatever he wanted- a skill learned in the childhood of long ago.  
  
It won him no popularity contests, but it got things done.  
  
   
  
***  
  
  
  
"So, what are you planning to do for your birthday tomorrow?" Gabe asked Rei, who was intently busy lounging on a couch and flipping a coin.  
  
"I dunno," Rei replied, still flipping the oversized coin. "I mean, I really can't think of anything to do- maybe just have a typical day out, chat up a few girls- but this IS my twentieth... and I can't think of anything!"  
  
"We don't have to do anything big, you know." Gabe replied to his friend. "So what if you're turning Twenty. I did three months ago. We didn't do anything big."  
  
"Then we'll just cruise around and pick up some girls if we can?"  
  
Gabe smirked. "The day that you can even hold a full conversation with a girl," he replied, "Is the day that- never mind."  
  
"Never matter," Rei answered with, and both of them shared a short laugh.  
  
"Look, Rei," Gabe said, leaning in, "I'm the ladies' man of the team. You couldn't chat up a house cat."  
  
Rei let out a kind of snorting laugh. "And you could?"  
  
Gabe crossed his arms and assumed a macho posture. "Of course I could. Why, I could impress any girl around here if I wanted to."  
  
"Okay, then, prove it?" Rei gave him a cock-eyed grin.  
  
Gabe returned the expression. "All right. just point me in the right direction, and let the Gabe-man do his thing!"  
  
Rei got up from his wonderful seat at the couch, and looked outside at the town street. There were a few young women about his age scattered here and there, but most of them he already knew, or had a crush on Gabe already, or just looked to easy. Then he noticed the blonde across the way talking with some guy.  
  
Obviously, neither one was from town. The woman was rather tall, thin, had an athletic build, and her hair was cropped just short enough to be barely feminine. The man who she was talking to was tall, had almost an elven grace to him, and had a hairstyle and facial structure similar to Amadeus', but not by much. The two appeared to be old friends from their posture, and when the man walked off; apparently to check on something- and in the process leaving his female companion alone- Rei knew that he had the perfect person to send Gabe to.  
  
"Hey, Gabe- how much you wanna bet on this one?"  
  
"I don't know... a weeks worth of chores at the Home?"  
  
Rei grinned. "Sounds good. If she likes you, I'll do all of your work for a Month, how does that sound?"  
  
"Happy birthday, friend," Gabe said in a perfectly evil tone. "So, who do you want me to talk to?"  
  
Rei pointed at the woman, who was now leaning against the side of the building in a rather bored manner. "Her- the stranger."  
  
"Doesn't she look a little old?" Gabe asked.  
  
"Nah, can't be any more than four years older than us. Besides- you look really mature for your age."  
  
Gabe tossed his head back in an extremely cocky gesture. "That I am, aren't I? You watch from the sidelines. The Master is at work!"  
  
Rei followed Gabe out and into the street, but graciously stayed across the way from him, secretly wondering what was going to happen. He also wondered if she woman was involved with that guy she was talking with in any way, and after getting an actual clear look at her face and general expression, he sincerely hoped not.  
  
Gabe leaned on the wall next to her. "Beautiful day, isn't it?" He asked, flashing his most charming smile.  
  
"I couldn't care less. I hate the sun." the woman with the short hair replied, not even looking up. Gabe, caught off guard by the response, took a few seconds to come up with anything to follow it up with. "Yeah, I hate beautiful days, too."  
  
Good. Always agree with them.  
  
She glanced over at him, and Gabe noticed her eyes. A rusty shade of brown that was almost red. In fact- he could almost have sworn that they glinted red for a second. "You didn't a minute ago," She said with less emotion than a machine, and turned her head back. Gabe noticed her arms, at that moment, left bare by the sleeveless garment that she was wearing. She wasn't exactly muscular, but it was pretty obvious that the woman could probably knock Gabe's teeth out if she so wished.  
  
What am I getting myself into? Gabe nervously asked himself, but then thoughts of having to do Rei's chores for a week in the foster home where they lived drove him onward in his mission. He took in a deep breath, and tried to sound suave and sophisticated. He managed nervous and undedicated.  
  
"Well.. uh.. I.. uh... disagree with myself a lot!" He nearly slapped himself.  
  
She turned her head over again, and cracked a smile. Normally, Gabe would consider this to be a good thing, but the way that she smiled at him made him want to stab himself and end the misery right now.  
  
"Well, at least you're normal for a local idiot." the smile disappeared. "Now, could you please stop chattering at the air like that? You're disturbing the peace." She went back to leaning against the wall, looking as if the entire previous conversation had never happened.  
  
Caught completely off guard, Gabe decided for one last attempt- the all-out approach.  
  
"Did anyone ever tell you that you're really beautiful?" he asked sheepishly, hoping to the gods that she wouldn't slug him for saying it.  
  
The woman gave him a somewhat confused, slant-eyed look. "Yes I am," she said in a rather disinterested tone. "And you're not. Go away."  
  
"Gah!" Gabe let out in frustration. "That's it! I give up!" he pointed at Rei across the street. "HE put me up to this! Look! Him! See?" he pointed again in Rei's direction. Rei tried to blend in with the crowd. The woman looked over at the boy, and grinned again.  
  
"Having fun?" she shouted back at him, and now a good group of people stopped to stare. "Your friend here certainly seems to be enjoying himself. I'd call him back now, if I were you!" she put a playful sing-songy tone into that last statement that was particularly dreadful.  
  
"Uh... Gabe... the bet's off. Let's get away from here." Rei called back sheepishly.  
  
The woman put a hand on Gabe's shoulder. It felt like ice. "Yes, Gabe. You should go back now."  
  
Gabe suddenly found that not a single muscle in his body wanted to obey his brain and move. He felt like someone in a particularly nightmarish story- "The Red-Eyed banshee from Hell," or something similar to that. Finally, he managed to get one leg moving, followed by the other. He staggered across the street, basically shaking from terror of the woman with the reddish eyes, scarred arm, and icy grip.  
  
When he made it up to Rei, Gabe glanced back and saw that the woman had assumed her former indiscreet posture of leaning against the wall, seemingly waiting for someone or something. She looked the exact same way that she did before Gabe had even left the building to cross the street.  
  
"I said point me toward a girl, not some sort of crazed demon!" Gabe snapped at his friend. "I was afraid she was going to kill me, or something!"  
  
Rei stammered a bit. "Gabe... uhh.... I've never seen anything like that before. I'm sorry."  
  
"Yeah, and I'm scarred for life!" Gabe snapped back at Rei, somewhat relieved at the fact that he was no longer shaking.  
  
"So," he asked, suddenly giving that sly grin again. "Wanna try again? Maybe talk to a human woman out there somewhere?"  
  
Rei laughed quietly. "You and your... okay, I'll pick someone who looks more normal."  
  
They both walked away.  
  
The woman smirked and shook her head. It was amazing how immature some people were. Not to mention how ignorant of what was going on around them, or of what could happen soon.  
  
"Where is that damned man," she snapped at no one in particular, then let out a rather tense deep breath. "And this had better not be another mistake. I'm really getting sick of it."  
  
   
  
***  
  
  
  
Mendelssohn looked over the small group of Stalfos that he had been able to gather on short notice, then surveyed the small sleeping town of Napouro. It was the middle of the night.  
  
"Now, you all are aware of the mission?" Mendelssohn said, tweaking his mustache a bit. "The Lord Amadeus wants us to retrieve the Hearstone from the center of this town."  
  
The Stalfos, being incapable of speech, just nodded and grunted in response.  
  
Mendelssohn nodded, and closed his eyes. "Kill anyone that you see. Set fire to the village if you want. I don't care." Mendelssohn grinned as the skeletal warriors all drew their swords and charged the village.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
Rei woke up to a fire. He had been having a very interesting dream, all about running and jumping and climbing and marauding hunchbacks with big clubs chasing him around when he started to smell smoke in the dream. The smell, as well as the heat of the fire itself, of course, was what woke him up. The flickering light from the fire was what got him fully awake and aware of his surroundings. The sounds of screaming and crashing were what finally got him out of bed.  
  
And at that moment, at the stroke of midnight, Rei's childhood ended.  
  
  
  
"Rei! This way!" Gabe shouted from across the smoke-filled hallway. Rei ran in the direction of the voice, not able to see what was at the other end, not caring in this hot, dark nightmare that was reality. He took an accidental turn to the left, and most likely would have gotten trapped and killed inside a collapsing room if fate had not been smiling upon him that day. The doorjamb to the room that Rei was about to enter suddenly collapsed inward, sending the young Hylian crashing clumsily back into the hallway.  
  
Think, Rei, Think... he thought to himself as he scrambled out of the pile of collapsed wall that he had hit. Smoke rises, so you should stay low to avoid getting yourself killed, right? In fact, you should move before the CAUSE of the smoke just happens to make it to where you're sitting right now. Sitting, and doing nothing. Move, you idiot! Move!  
  
Finally obeying his mind, Rei got on his hands and knees, and started crawling as fast as he could down the hallway, all thoughts of what that fire might be doing to anyone else or how the heck it had started in the middle of the night completely leaving his conscious thoughts. All that was left now was survival. And then Rei ran into Gabe's knees, sending Gabe toppling down on his back.  
  
"Rei! What are you doing? The whole building's on fire!" Gabe shouted at him while getting up.  
  
"I was keeping away from the smoke! What's going on?"  
  
"I don't know! I woke up, and everything was in chaos! I think we're being attacked by bandits, or something!"  
  
"Bandits?" Rei asked before a section of ceiling behind them crashed, and all conversation ceased.  
  
"Just come on!" Gabe shouted, leading the way. "We need to get out of here!"  
  
The two exited the collapsing building and saw that the true chaos was really on the outside.  
  
"I don't think these are bandits..." Rei commented absently, looking on in shock.  
  
There were Stalfos everywhere. The Skeletal monsters usually restricted to children's fairy tales were out in full force that night, destroying whatever got in their way in an odd, mindless fashion.  
  
"This can't be happening..." Rei started to say before Gabe grabbed his hand and headed for the last remaining horse in the stable directly to their left.  
  
"Hold on! We're getting out of here!" Gabe said, getting Rei on the horse behind him.  
  
The hand of Fate is mysterious. Many different things are said about its Providence when what it does is deemed good, and its Mystery when what it does is deemed wrong. Either way, what happens in the course of Time cannot be written off as mere chance. Even if most events are guided by that which is known as the Random, the Purpose always plays its hand. Whether through a major event like a war, or through a small one like a simple insect being crushed underfoot, everything happens for a reason, and Fate cannot be denied. Fate moved its hand in the smallest of things that day- it weakened a simple wooden beam and so changed the course of Hylian history from the disasters that would have followed after.  
  
As Gabe was busy riding his horse like all manner of hellfire, one simple wooden beam in a simple nearby barn burned through and dropped off the side of a building and directly at both of them. Gabe saw it and ducked, but Rei did not. The beam didn't hit Rei directly, otherwise it would have undoubtedly killed him. Instead, it grazed his head just hard enough to knock him both off the horse and unconscious, but light enough that Gabe didn't feel the lightening of the load for a long time as he rode off into the horizon. Whether Rei ever saw him again or not was open to interpretation- but for now, Gabe was out of his life. Fate plays its hand, and chooses its people. For what reason, nobody can say.  
  
   
  
Rei struggled his way back into the land of the living as a disoriented mess, with a dull throbbing pain in his forehead where the plank hit. He began struggling to his feet, slowly remembering what was going on behind him in the village. Strangely enough, most of the sounds had ceased.  
  
There came a low grunt from behind him, and Rei turned around to see four Stalfos all facing him, rust-coloured swords drawn. The four had apparently not done much in the way of carnage that evening, and looked very unsatisfied. Rei realized at that point that his life was going to end in an extremely painful and gory way. What he did not realize was that he was about to trip over the same piece of wood that had gotten him into this mess to begin with and hit his head on a rock going down.  
  
Rei's last conscious thoughts before darkness swallowed him were that the Stalfos weren't supposed to be falling apart like that- it was almost as though someone was killing them.  
  
   
  
*** 


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE: ENTER SHEIKAH; EXIT NAPOURO  
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
Rei woke up to the sounds of beautiful music playing, and the sights of beautiful young girls attending his every need. Then he really woke up to the feeling of some foul-smelling chemical being shoved at his nose by a someone who he couldn't really see, a dull throbbing ache in every single part of his body including the gash on his forehead from being bopped with a beam, and the stale smell of smoke that belonged to a fire long since put out.  
  
"There!" The woman- he could be sure that it was a woman now- called out to someone behind her, "He's awake! Get your ass over here and help me give him medical attention!"  
  
Rei attempted to sit up and explain that with the exception of the small gash on his forehead and a few aching joints, he was just fine when the woman shoved him back down with nearly enough force to multiply his aches and pains tenfold.  
  
"Stay down, you might be injured" she said, looking him in the eyes, and at that moment Rei recognized her.  
  
"Hey... you're that girl from the marketplace?" he said, noticing that his speech was half-slurred with sheer disorientation.  
  
"Yes, and your friend tried to flirt with me. I don't give a damn. Talien! get over here!" she yelled again before actually standing up and starting back toward whomever Talien was.  
  
"Excuse me for a minute- and Don't Move," she commanded with a low, quiet voice before advancing off out of Rei's line of sight- which wasn't hard to do, considering that he was lying on his back. Rei caught a slight glimpse of a reddish eye-shaped symbol on the woman's sleeve that struck a gong somewhere in the back of his mind, but he was too befuddled to think of anything else at the moment.  
  
A few seconds later, he heard another voice mingled in with the woman's- this one a kinder, calmer voice that was indisputably male.  
  
"I couldn't find any more survivors back that way, Damodred. I think that they all either died or escaped back here. I haven't heard of anything like this happening since the Imprisoning War, and the gods know we've seen since..."  
  
At that point a little piece fell into place in Rei's mind. He remembered what the symbol meant- it was the Sign of the Sheikah. That was all that Rei's mind could process before Talien bent over him and offered a hand.  
  
"You look perfectly fine to me, whatever my companion might say about you. Now please get up- I have something to ask you about.'  
  
Rei spent another moment in confusion over the drastic difference between the woman- Damodred's manner of speaking, and Talien's before he took the older man's hand and let him help him up.   
  
"By the way, my name is Talien. My partner here is Damodred. May I have your name, please?"  
  
"Rei. Rei Elanis," Rei said, somehow managing a polite smile in spite of the throbbing in his head.  
  
"That's good, Rei, because there's something I'd like to ask you about last night's attack..."  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
Amadeus paced quickly up and down the hallways of his quarters, the agitation showing on his face. In his hand was an inconsequential bit of news concerning a small town northeast of the castle and the apparent raid that had taken place there.  
  
"I swear, when I get my hands on the little bastard I'm going to strangle the very life out of his..." he trailed off before he could finish. Miyu had long since given up trying to calm him down, and after looking at the bulletin had decided that his emotions were completely justified.  
  
"Over twenty confirmed dead," he repeated to himself, going over it again. "The rest all scattered... damn him!"  
  
"Please don't curse so much," Miyu said from the corner of the room. "It makes you sound vulgar."  
  
Amadeus tensed up again, but then relaxed his features. He tucked the paper away and tried to recompose himself. "Look... I told Mendelssohn what he was supposed to do, and look at this!" It's not even three days since he went on this little adventure and the news has already come back here! Why did I trust him?"  
  
"He was the only one available," Miyu responded, walking up closer beside him.  
  
"I should have shopped around more," He said, shaking his head. "Maybe hired someone else..."  
  
"Liszt is no better than Mendelssohn, and you know it," She responded. "There wasn't anything that you could have done about it. Don't blame yourself."  
  
"I'm not." he replied curtly.  
  
"Ama, please calm down," She said again, putting a hand on his shoulder. Amadeus smiled. It was at that point that Mendelssohn had decided to make his grand return.  
  
"I have returned," Mendelssohn began, " and I bear good tidi-"  
  
Amadeus jumped him.  
  
"What the hell did you think you were doing?" he shouted at Mendelssohn, picking the imp up by his throat and shaking him. "I told you to just get the stone out of there, and not cause any trouble! I did not, I repeat, NOT tell you to BURN THE VILLAGE DOWN AND KILL OVER TWENTY PEOPLE!" he resumed choking Mendelssohn.  
  
"Ama... calm down..." Miyu offered, trying to ease him down.  
  
"You're right," Amadeus said. "A death by strangulation in my living room wouldn't look very good." he dropped Mendelssohn, who writhed on the floor for a few seconds gasping for breath. Amadeus put his head in his hands. "What were you doing there, Mendelssohn? What did you think you were doing?"  
  
"Obeying your orders," Mendelssohn replied, finally catching his breath. Amadeus wheeled on him.   
  
"No!" he shouted. "I did NOT sanction you to kill people! I would have you put on trial right now if I didn't need you for-"  
  
Mendelssohn interrupted. "You told me to take the stone. You said that I can use any extra means that I deem necessary."  
  
"You think that a company of Stalfos with swords, axes, and torches are necessary to take an oversized cobblestone from a bunch of country people?"  
  
Mendelssohn didn't reply. He simply stuck his tongue out at Amadeus. The taller man bent down to eye level with him.  
  
"If I didn't abhor violence so much, I'd probably kill you right now. And I would be totally justified, too. I hate your kind of scum, and I'm at the end of my rope. I am indirectly responsible for all of those deaths, even if they are for the greater good in the end. If you do anything like this again, I am seriously considering trying to find another wizard to help me. Do you understand?"  
  
Mendelssohn folded his arms. "Of course. I understand you perfectly."  
  
"Then get out of my sight," Amadeus told him, turning around.   
  
"Fine. Your stone is out on the doorstop." Mendelssohn told him before leaving in a puff of smoke.  
  
"It's where?" Amadeus asked. He made an odd, panicked shouting noise as he ran outside of his castle annex to retrieve the large black stone before it was noticed leaning against the main doorway. Miyu put her head in her hands and sighed.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
"...The Heck?!? It's gone!" Rei exclaimed, looking at the heartstone-sized hole in the ground.  
  
"What's gone?" Talien asked him.  
  
Rei snapped his fingers in the air, trying to recall the exact name of the stone. "The... the thingy… You know… The keystone… Wait, that's not right. One second... it's right on the tip of.... the heartstone! That's what he called it!"  
  
"Heartstone?" Talien asked, arching an eyebrow. "Who called it that?"  
  
"The guy who visited a few days ago. He said that he'd send a few people in to study it soon."  
  
"Who did?"  
  
"Amadeus de Castillo. You know- the queen's vizier." Rei replied. "He seemed like a really nice guy."  
  
Talien nodded. "He is. I've met him before. Did he have a reason for being here?"  
  
Rei nodded. "Yeah- he was enjoying his vacation time by looking at some relics from Old Hyrule- that's what he told me."  
  
"Hm. Have there ever been any other attempts to steal it?" Talien asked.  
  
"Yeah- there was one while back, but it didn't work. Amadeus really seemed surprised that there weren't many others."  
  
Talien nodded. "As am I. Why do these things always end up in town squares in the middle of nowhere?"  
  
"Probably because most of the local idiots are too stupid to recognize it," Damodred said from a few feet back. "Therefore- no advertising. I'd call it smart if it didn't come out of total ignorance."  
  
Talien nodded. "Possibly. Either way, it's gone. There's only one use that I know of for a heartstone, and you need all three to do it, anyway. Rei, do you have any place to go?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Rei, do you have anywhere to stay- any friends nearby, or family?"  
  
He shook his head. "No. I don't really know anyone outside of the town, and I'm not exactly from a large family, if you know what I mean."  
  
Talien nodded, and thought to himself for a moment. Damodred rolled her eyes.  
  
"Oh, by the gods, not again. Don't even think about it."  
  
"Rei," Talien said, ignoring her. "Would you like to come with us back to the Sheikah headquarters? We can probably find a place for you to stay there."  
  
Damodred folded her arms. "No, Talien. Don't try to drag another stray along."  
  
Talien didn't respond.  
  
"Well... I don't really have anywhere else to go..." Rei started. Talien shook his hand.  
  
"That's good, then. We'll find somewhere for you. I hope you can forgive the rudeness of-"  
  
"Can it," Damodred interrupted. "I'll let him come along if you so very much insist."  
  
Talien held his peace. Damodred turned over toward Rei. "One simple word of advice, kid. Don't bother me. We shouldn't have to deal with each other for more than a few days, and I can already tell that you're annoying. Trust me, you don't want to piss me off."  
  
Rei, having already decided that he didn't want to experience whatever sort of agonizing death that she was capable of inflicting, nodded. "Yes, ma'am. You won't hear a peep from me!" He moved over behind Talien, who had folded his arms.   
  
"Are you through, yet?" he asked her.  
  
"Quite," She replied. "Let's get out of here."  
  
"Rei, you can use my horse if you want," Talien offered.  
  
Rei thought about it for a moment, and decided that taking the offer would most probably mean death at the hands of the OTHER Sheikah member.  
  
"No, thank you. I need the exercise."  
  
Talien shrugged. "We'll find one for you, then. Damodred- didn't you find a few horses back there"  
  
She folded her arms. "They've probably run free by now."  
  
"Would you terribly mind fetching one for our companion here? If any are left, that is."  
  
"I'd mind it, but that doesn't mean that I won't do it," she responded. "Just don't thank me."  
  
As she walked off, Rei turned over to Talien. "What's with her?" he asked.  
  
Talien folded his arms. "That's just the way she is. Damodred's always been like that- and I've known her for a long time. You get used to it eventually."  
  
"She's nuts!"  
  
"You don't know the half of it," Talien smirked. "And besides, considering her background, and all, she could have turned into one of those annoying amazon warrior-women types. I guess we're lucky that she just turned into a total bitch instead."  
  
Rei blinked a few times.  
  
"Sorry," Talien responded, "You'll have to get used to it- everyone calls her that. It's gotten to the point where it's a compliment now."  
  
"What's her background?" Rei asked.  
  
"You'll have to ask her that yourself. I'll just tell you that she has somewhat of an excuse for her, er, temperament. Just ignore her, and you'll be fine."  
  
Rei nodded. "Thanks," he said. It wasn't much longer when Damodred came back with a horse. Strangely enough, she had picked one that looked semi-normal.  
  
"Hey, thanks," He said, taking the animal's reigns. He didn't get a response. In a way, Rei decided, that was probably a good thing.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
It was about two hours later, on the road, when Rei realized something.  
  
"I just realized something," he said. The other two turned toward him.  
  
"Today was my twentieth birthday."  
  
There was silence for a few seconds.  
  
"We'll buy you a cake. I nearly bled to death on mine." Damodred replied coldly.  
  
Talien was far more sympathetic. "According to tradition, twenty is the age in which a boy passes into manhood. You deserve that title more than most."  
  
"Talien," Rei changed the subject, "You said that we're going to the Sheikah headquarters. What am I going to do from there?"  
  
"The Sheikah are more than simple fighters," Talien replied, "A large part of what we do is find homes for people like you whose lives have been destroyed by evil. We started doing this when Ganon first took over. Don't worry, you'll do fine. Just don't bug Damodred too much, and you should still have both arms."  
  
Rei had to literally bite his tongue to avoid laughing and thus incurring the Wrath of Woman.  
  
"I find it interesting, though," Talien commented.  
  
"What?" Rei asked.  
  
"Most of the townspeople escaped. Of the ones who didn't, all were killed except for you. We counted roughly twenty bodies, and sent a passerby off toward Hyrule Castle with the news. The fact that you're still alive, much less uninjured, is a miracle from the gods, Rei. Never forget that."  
  
Rei shrugged. "I guess they must be planning something."  
  
"Probably," Talien commented. Rei did not seek Damodred's opinion on the matter.  
  
  


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR: THE EVER-WATCHING EYE  
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
Over time, events become memories, memories become history, history becomes legend, legend becomes religion, religion becomes children's tales, and children's tales influence the minds that will later rule the world. The Sheikah had existed long enough to transcend all of those, and in truth served to influence many even in their waning years. Once, it was a proud organization that worked for kings and toppled nations, but as time passed the Ever-Watching Eye of the World slowly drew back into the shadows, until its presence was mainly felt but not seen or heard. The Sheikah still existed, yes, but the only real proof of their existence was the princess' nursemaid. This had changed in recent years, with the Containment War against Ganon, but for a while the Ever-Watching Eye still preferred to watch from the shadows. For Rei Elanis, the shadow surrounding the Sheikah was about to lift, and change his life forever.  
  
   
  
"Well, we're here." Talien drew his horse to a stop.  
  
Rei squinted. The three of them had parked their horses by the base of a cliff some miles behind the graveyard at Kakariko.  
  
"We're where, exactly?" he asked, still puzzled at their ultimate destination being a seemingly random patch of ground.  
  
Damodred rolled her eyes at him. "We're at the Sheikah headquarters, idiot. Where else would we be?"  
  
"Huh?" Rei responded, still puzzled. "There's nothing here."  
  
Talien chuckled, then produced a small flute. "One second, Rei." he said. The man played six distinct notes, forming a lullaby-sounding tune. Rei was still confused. He was more puzzled when two previously unseen doors in the rock face in front of him swung open.  
  
"As I was saying," Talien said, stowing the flute away, "We're here."  
  
Rei followed Talien's lead inside, completely amazed at what he saw. After a small cave, they emerged into the capitol city of the Sheikah. Mankurosa was hidden entirely within a rather large valley, fenced off on all sides by the surrounding mountains. Travel in and out was well nigh impossible except through the front gate, and the city itself wasn't even visible from the outside.   
  
"Wow..." Rei began, looking around him, "This is where you guys live? This is incredible!"   
  
"Whatever." Damodred replied. "You'll get sick of it before long." Rei watched her ride forward with his horse for a few seconds before turning to Talien.  
  
"Is she always like that?" Rei whispered to him.   
  
"Welcome to Mankurosa," Talien responded before spurring his horse. Rei shrugged his shoulders and followed them further in.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
Instead of being ruled by one absolute head to their organization, the Sheikah were governed by a council of seven members, known as the Sheikah Minds, with one presiding head of the council known as the Sheikah Star. Beneath that council, was a group of committees pertaining to new members- either recruits or volunteers. Subdivided within those committees were yet still more people with one specific goal in mind: To test an eligible person without his/her knowledge of it. If Rei had known about this, he would have been far more suspicious about Talien's apparent kindness to him.  
  
"So, you really think he has it?" Damodred asked him. "The Inner Burning Strength?"  
  
Talien shrugged. "I'm not omniscient," he said, "But I've been watching him. He might have it, and he might not. If he does have it, we'll find out soon enough. He shows a lot of potential- he just doesn't know it yet. And besides, I picked you, didn't I?"  
  
She cocked an eyebrow at him. "And just look at how I turned out. And besides, are you really sure about him? Rei seems more like a naive, idiotic fool to me than a potential warrior."  
  
"No one is what they appear to be."  
  
"Oh, well, then," she replied, "You'd better be completely sure before you take him in as an apprentice. You don't want to have to clean up the mess when I'm through with him."  
  
Talien chuckled. He had gotten used to Damodred's sense of humour, and the fact that more than half of what she said wasn't an exaggeration. "You know," he said, "You really are one of a kind."  
  
"I am," came the reply.  
  
Meanwhile, outside, during his "short stay" at Mankurosa, Rei was unwittingly being tested for recruitment into the elite organization known as the Sheikah.  
  
   
  
It was Tuesday afternoon, and Rei was finally beginning to enjoy himself again. He had come to realize that with the help of these people, he really could start a new life. Perhaps he could even reconnect with some of his old friends, if he found any of them again. Life was good. He had a few complaints- namely a certain blonde woman whose personality could probably gnaw through iron if given time- but for the most part he was fine with life.  
  
"Hey, Rei. How are you doing?" Talien asked Rei, stepping up behind him.  
  
"Me? Great, thanks. Hey- thanks for taking me here, and all."  
  
Talien waved a dismissive hand. "It's nothing. I like to help people."  
  
"Hey, Talien," Rei started, "I've been meaning to ask you this."  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"Yeah- where's Damodred from?"  
  
"Why do you ask?" He replied.  
  
"I was thinking that that might give me a little insight on her personality- you know, if she had any Gerudo blood or anything."  
  
Talien smiled. "No- she's from the Southern Kingdom. Coastal, I think. Note how her ears aren't pointed like ours."  
  
"Yeah, I did notice that..."  
  
"And not many Hylians have eyes like that. Did that help at all?"  
  
Rei shrugged. "Somewhat. Maybe she was dropped on her head one too many times as a child and wants to take it out on us."  
  
The two shared a quiet laugh for a moment. "Hey, Rei," Talien said, "Could you do me a favour for a minute?"  
  
"Sure," Rei answered.  
  
   
  
"This is one of the training rooms, isn't it?' Rei asked.  
  
"Rei, could you hold this sword for a second?" Talien handed him a small long-bladed sword.  
  
"Umm... sure." Rei took it.  
  
"Good. Now, just stand right there." Talien backed up into a corner of the room. The lights dimmed.  
  
"What's going on?"  
  
"That sword that you are holding is no ordinary sword," Talien began. "It was passed down through my family from eldest son to eldest son for generations. It was made as one of the few Finding Swords in existence. With it, one may discover many things about himself. Now, hold the sword, and wait."  
  
"Ummm... Okay..."  
  
Rei had just started to wonder what all of this was about when he noticed the three Stalfos surrounding him. His next statement was one that should be recorded for all of history.  
  
"...The HECK?!?"  
  
The three lunged. Rei ducked instinctively, and just missed getting his head sheared off by their swords. A rather interesting jumble of thoughts began to run through his mind, not the least of which having something to do with talien's apparent attempt to kill him. Rei dodged to the right, and dashed to the other edge of the room. he had to find a weapon, no matter what. The giant skeletons turned around and began to charge. Rei gripped the hilt of Talien's sword, still trying to think of an available weapon that he could use to...  
  
...oh...  
  
...wait...  
  
...oops...  
  
Rei brought up the sword in a defensive motion- he really had no idea how he knew how to do it- and started defending against all three of the Stalfos. Without even thinking twice, he lashed back out at them, and cut the one directly in front of him down with a direct stab. Spinning on his heals, he beheaded the one on his left with a slash, and was just about to finish number three when he realized what he was doing.  
  
"Wait a second... I don't know how to fight!" He shouted as he killed the last of the three skeletons. All three of them disappeared, and the room lit up again. There was Talien, leaning against the far wall, smiling.  
  
"What the HECK just happened back there?" Rei shouted at him. Talien didn't seem to notice.  
  
"You held my sword up, and started running around the room like you were being attacked. Magical swords can do funny things to the brain sometimes."  
  
"Funny things?"  
  
Talien put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, you were never in any real danger. There was no conceivable way that you could have really died back there, unless you had stabbed yourself or something."  
  
Feeling relieved, Rei handed him the sword back. "Then... then what was all of that for?"  
  
Talien took the sword, and nodded. "Since you arrived here, we have been testing you. Remember the arrow incident?"  
  
"You mean the arrow in my soup?"  
  
Talien nodded. "Yes, that. There were people watching you, seeing how you reacted to its presence. You passed the test. Pretty much everything that's happened in the past two weeks since you came here has been a test."  
  
"A test of what? What are you people trying to do to me?"  
  
Talien closed his eyes. "Why, recruit you, of course." he said. "And I'm glad to say that you're more than fully qualified."  
  
"...The HECK?!?"  
  
"Come on, let's take a walk. I'll explain it all to you on the way."  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
Walking along the cliffside, Talien explained everything to Rei.  
  
"The core of every Sheikah's skill and power is in their Inner Burning Strength. An exact handle on what that is hasn't been reached yet, but it appears to be something left behind by the gods to empower us to uphold their law. It inspires people, and gives them strength. It's also the source of a man's potential for magic. Some of the time, your Strength will come from a specific thought or emotion, or memory. But most of the time it's just already there, waiting to surface."  
  
Rei nodded. He had an idea where this was heading.  
  
"Link, for example, had a lot of Strength- probably more than any other person in history. However, his life had a purpose, and he returned to his own time. Rei, you're a really nice guy, and we would have put you up here anyway, but your potential Strength amount is incredible. Who were your parents?"  
  
Rei shrugged. "I never really knew them. My parents split up early, and my dad put me in foster care before running off into the distance. Not exactly the mystical upbringing you expected, was it?"  
  
"It rarely is," Talien answered, "But you'd be surprised in some cases. Now, as for you, your performance against the illusions this afternoon was incredible. You handled that sword like an expert."  
  
Rei stopped walking. "How did I do that? What the heck happened to me?" he asked.  
  
"Your Strength showed itself," Talien answered. "Often, it only shows itself in training situations like that, so don't expect it again. You will have to learn how to use a sword from now on- if you do indeed join, that is- but I suspect that it won't be that difficult a task."  
  
"But... but why are you so sure that I'll join you guys?" Rei asked again. "I mean, I don't have anything against you, but I'm really not a fighter!"  
  
"That's what I said before I joined. Damodred, no. She came here wanting to kill people. But I know exactly where you're standing." He gestured with his hand. "Look around you. From these cliffs, you can almost see outside the valley. From here, you can see all of Mankurosa, the city of the Ever-Watching Eye of Hyrule. We don't necessarily need a new member of the Sheikah, but we aren't exactly closed either. Think about it, Rei. If you were to just leave here and try to build a life from scratch, you'd probably be successful. But you'd just live a normal, quiet life without making much of a real difference in the world. You'd be significant, but you'd be forgotten, as well. Tell me, have you ever wanted to make a difference in this world?"  
  
"Yes," Rei answered.  
  
"Then trust me, you want to join us," Talien said, smiling.  
  
"Let me sleep on it," Rei answered. 


	5. Chater 5

   
  
CHAPTER FIVE: REI'S DECISION  
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
"Yes," Rei answered.  
  
"Then trust me, you want to join us," Talien said, smiling.  
  
"Let me sleep on it," Rei answered.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
Rei slept on the decision only in the loosest sense of the term. Rather, he tossed and turned for about four hours before he began pacing, after which he sat on his bed for a while, thinking some more. His mind was a chaotic mess of conflicting statements and ideas, none of which gave him any real satisfaction.  
  
Rei did not want to spend the rest of his life as a member of the Sheikah, but somehow he knew that he'd end up joining, anyway. There were no advantages to the decision, only problems. How could he ever be a real warrior? How could he learn to do half of the things that his newfound friends could do? And in spite of all of this, could he even trust a group of people who hid themselves away from the public on a regular basis? Talien seemed very much up front with him, except for the whole testing incident, and Damodred seemed to make a point about being frank, but... All the same...  
  
Rei put his head in his hands. If he joined the Sheikah, he'd most likely die serving in it. And he would probably die soon, as opposed to late in life. Despite what Talien told him, Rei couldn't ever conceive of making a difference in his life if he took the job, but then, he couldn't ever conceive of making a difference in his life if he didn't. The life of a Sheikah was guaranteed to be a rather full and eventful one, and he would probably never get a similar chance ever again. But still...  
  
"Come on, just please give me an answer!" he cried out to no one in particular. Rei could feel his own heart beating as he realized the sheer magnitude of the decision that laid ahead of him. His former life had been uprooted, and this one decision would decide forever which course he was to take. If Talien was right, and he had all of that potential... but if he was wrong...  
  
Roughly half an hour before the sun began to rise on Wednesday morning, Reiman Toran Elanis came to a decision. He felt a tear slip down his cheek in regret about the path not taken. Then he got some sleep.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
As he had earlier while visiting the city, Rei ate breakfast in the communal dining hall. The only two people who he really knew in all of Mankurosa, Talien and Damodred, were nowhere to be seen. In fact, all of the immediate seats next to him were empty. It gave him more time to think.  
  
Was his choice right? How many opportunities had he just thrown away forever? Would he miss the life that he had just denied? Or would he settle into his new life perfectly, with nary a thought of what could have been?  
  
He was thinking this when Damodred sat down directly across from him.  
  
"Morning, Rei," She said quietly. He started and looked up.  
  
"Good morning, Damodred," He replied semi-casually. They ate in silence for a few minutes.  
  
"So," She began, "Talien told me that chances are we'll be seeing a lot more of you. Was he right?"  
  
Rei stopped eating. Not only was Damodred being- gasp- civil to him, but now he had to state his answer, one way or another. There was no turning back at this point.  
  
"Well, I… Uh... I mean...Umm… I'd... Well.."  
  
"Spit it out before I rip it from your throat."  
  
Rei swallowed. "Yeah, I guess so. I guess I'm staying here."  
  
She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Oh? Is that so? What made you decide?"  
  
Rei shrugged. "I... I really don't know. It's like the gods were leading me here, or something. I can't quite put a finger on it."  
  
Damodred smirked, and shook her head. She extended him a hand. "Welcome to Hell, kid. You made the right decision."  
  
He took her hand, half-expecting her to crush it. She didn't.  
  
"You'll start training shortly. Chances are I'll have a hand in it. Trust me, Hell can be fun after a while."  
  
"Huh?" Rei responded, confused.  
  
"After a long while," She said back to him, "And if I do train you, I guarantee that it will be fun."  
  
Rei began to regret his decision.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
"So he's joining us?" Talien asked Damodred shortly after breakfast.  
  
"Yeah, he is." She handed him a few rupees. "You win."  
  
"Keep them, I really don't care. Now," He continued, "We have another problem. What are we going to do with Rei from here? The little test with the sword and the illusions was good enough, but now we'll have to start training him for real. He'll be our apprentice, after all. It's a joint deal since we both had a hand in testing him."  
  
Damodred shot him a devilish grin. "Just let me do the weapons training, and it'll all be good." She produced a knife and began trimming her nails, making just enough of a show of it for Talien to get the point.  
  
"If he dies, I'm not paying for it."  
  
"Who said anything about dying?" she asked, not looking up from her work.   
  
"You're too nice," Talien replied sarcastically.  
  
"Only to you," came the response.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
It was Wednesday already, and Amadeus was finally starting to feel better about things. He had slowly come to the realization over the past week that Mendelssohn's actions were his fault, and his alone. Amadeus himself shared in none of the guilt. However, Mendelssohn would not be sent on that many more retrieval missions, as necessary as his work was. The really crucial moment wouldn't come until later, anyway. With this in mind, Amadeus could return to his work as the queen's vizier without any difficulty- and he could return to his side project, as well.   
  
Miyu walked into the room, standing behind him. Amadeus leaned back in his chair, reclining enough so that he faced her somewhat.  
  
"You look funny upside-down," He said. She smirked at him.  
  
"You should see yourself. There's hair everywhere."  
  
Amadeus closed his eyes. "Thine beauty is supreme even when thou art inverted."  
  
She chuckled. "Are you breaking out the High Speech for me?"  
  
"Why not? I've done it before."  
  
Miyu gave his chair a slight push, nearly making him fall. "Then I take it you've started to feel better?"  
  
"I certainly hope so," he said, sitting back up and turning his chair around. It was a fun chair, really. Mounted on wheels, and able to swivel- a relatively new invention. "Although I might need to strangle Mendelssohn again some time soon. It's really therapeutic- you should try it."  
  
"Strangling Mendelssohn? Perish the thought."  
  
"What?" He asked back. "You think that's too cruel?"  
  
"I think it's too nice," came the reply. "But we're not exactly the most cruel people in the world, now, are we?"  
  
Amadeus shook his head. "You know, you really are beautiful."  
  
She smiled and sat in his lap. "Of course I am. I'm also intelligent, and talented, and possessing of a wonderful personality," she commented sarcastically.  
  
"Not to mention taller than me," he shot back. "I can't breathe."  
  
Miyu shook her head, and stood up again. "You're still the heavier one."  
  
Amadeus brushed himself off, then stood up as well. "Not by enough, I'm not."   
  
He looked down just in time to see Galyer rocketing through the hallway directly at him.  
  
"Oh, darn," was all that he had to say before the dog leapt on him in a friendly tackle. Amadeus went flying into the adjoining room.  
  
Miyu laughed.  
  
  
  
***  
  
   
  
"All right, Rei. You know why we're here."  
  
Rei looked up at Damodred. "Yeah- today's the first day of my weapons training."  
  
She nodded. "That's good, you got at least one thing right. Relish the experience. Here!" She hefted an extremely large broadsword at him. "Catch!" she said.  
  
Rei caught it, and promptly fell to the ground under its weight. The sword was much heavier than he had expected. Rei scrambled up to his feet, and tried to lift the sword. Rei managed to lift the hilt.  
  
"Do you know what kind of sword that is, Rei?" she asked him.  
  
"A broadsword?" he asked back. She shook her head.  
  
"Close. It's in the broadsword family, though. What you are holding is called a Bastard Sword. It's the largest and heaviest of its type- This particular one was made by Gorons. This is what you're going to start your training with."  
  
Rei gave her a puzzled look. "Huh?" he asked. Then he saw her pick up the two wooden practice swords and realized what he was in for.  
  
"Defend yourself!" she shouted before charging at him. Rei had time to lift the hilt a few inches higher before he was completely pummeled.  
  
"You know, this means that you're dead," Damodred said, looking down at him. Rei let out a groan of pain. Practice swords hurt.  
  
He started to get back up to his feet. "Why am I using this?" he asked, still attempting to lift it. "I've never used a two-handed sword before."  
  
"That's exactly why you're using it right now," she replied. "Oh, and one more thing." Damodred gave him a sharp kick in the ribs. "I'm not going to wait for you to get up," she said.  
  
"Oh, crap."  
  
Rei had considerable trouble walking after the training session was over.  
  
   
  
"Rei, today I'm going to teach you how to use one of these," Talien handed Rei a small cylindrical device with a grappling spear sticking out of the end of it.  
  
"It's called a hookshot. The button on the side fires it, and also retracts it. It stops extending on its own once it hits something, and has a range of roughly twenty meters."  
  
Rei looked it over. "There's sixty feet of chain in this thing? How do they fit it in there?"  
  
Talien shrugged. "Beats me. You're welcome to take that one apart if you want, but you'll have to pay for a replacement. Believe me, you don't want to know how much these things cost." Talien let silence descend on the scene for a moment.  
  
"Now," he said, aiming it at the top of a building ahead of them. "Watch and learn." Talien depressed the button, firing the chain with the tip out. It stuck fast in the wall near the top of the building.  
  
"Now, you simply press the button again." the chain immediately went taut, and Talien was pulled up with it. He swung up to the top of the building, then made a graceful landing on a balcony below him.  
  
"Holding on to it while it retracts really isn't too hard, but it takes some getting used to. Now, it's your turn. Aim where I did- it's right above my head now."  
  
Rei nodded. "Okay," he said. He fired.  
  
The hookshot implanted itself perfectly in the side of the building, almost exactly where Talien had fired his earlier. "Now," Talien called from above, "Press the button again and swing up here."  
  
Rei nodded, and pressed the button again. Just as expected, he swung up with the hookshot, feeling a sense of accomplishment in the fraction of a second that it took for him to make it to the top before he accidentally let go too soon. Rei then plummeted, feeling a sense of weightlessness in the fraction of a second that it took for him to fall back down. Talien didn't look.  
  
Rei's training was suspended for another weak while he healed. That is, all physical training was cut off. For the next week, Rei Elanis was taught the fine art of healing. 


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX: WELCOME TO HELL, DEAR REI  
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
Rei woke up with a headache. A very large headache. He was also in a hospital bed. This meant that there was probably a very good reason for his headache. Then he remembered. Well, sort of. Really, he didn't remember anything. Or something. Or nothing. Ack.   
  
Rei heard a quiet noise beside him, and turned his head to see what it is. Damodred was sitting on a chair in the corner, filing her nails with a knife. She glanced up at him.  
  
"You're pretty observant, you know. You stared at the ceiling for a good five minutes before I stomped my foot so you'd notice me here. Be glad I'm not out to kill you. Yet."  
  
"Ummm... what happened?" Rei asked  
  
She smiled, and continued filing her nails while she spoke. "Overall, I'd give your high dive from the balcony a 9.5. The technique was pretty good, but you lost points for the face plant."  
  
Rei groaned. NOW he remembered. "How long have I been out?"  
  
"Not too long, actually," she replied. "Although the doctor doesn't want you back on your feet for an entire week. Putz."  
  
"Huh?" he asked, still dazed. Damodred moved on to her ring finger as she spoke.  
  
"You didn't break anything, and there wasn't that much blood on the ground. However, because you appear to have some sort of concussion, the doctor doesn't think that you should be doing anything high-impact for a little bit. As I said, he's a putz."  
  
"I see..." Rei trailed off, not wanting to disagree with her. She moved on to her pinky.  
  
"Well, this should give you some time to rest, before you go back to Hell. You DO know why you passed Talien's test, right?" she finished with her pinky, and began examining the nails on her right hand.  
  
"Ummm.... because I fought the Stalfos off?"  
  
Damodred grinned. "Wrong. Dead wrong. Oops... this nail's a bit uneven." She extended her middle finger and began filing it. Rei vaguely noticed that the finger was pointed toward him.  
  
"It's not because of any real display of strength on your part. In fact, you performed very poorly. The sword did all of the work for you. Talien claims that he saw a flash of potential in you- more potential than he's seen in a long while, but then, he also thought that I was a nice girl when we first met."  
  
"How long have you known each other?" Rei asked. Damodred looked up, and switched to her left hand, starting with the index finger.  
  
"A long time. I was thirteen when I first met him."  
  
"And how long would that be?"  
  
"Long enough," she replied, moving to her other middle finger. "And that's all you need to know," she said, her finger once again extended in Rei's general direction.  
  
"Ummm... wouldn't a regular nail file be more practical?"  
  
She shrugged. "Not like I care, or anything. Either way, I'm supposed to keep you company while you're here. Don't think that I wanted to be here."  
  
Rei gave a nervous smile. His head hurt some more. "Of course not!" he said, trying his best to avoid showing any weakness. He failed. She looked up at him, and then switched fingers again.  
  
"The first thing that we have to work on when you recover," she started, "is your habit of running during a fight. You need to stand your ground more. I'm thinking... chaining your ankles to the ground during some practice sessions, perhaps?"  
  
Rei gulped. Damodred switched fingers again.  
  
"Of course, it's not like you can move very far, or anything, with that Bastard Sword. There's only one problem."  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"Those practice swords aren't durable enough. I have to hold back when hitting you to avoid breaking them. I think I'll make a request for sturdier ones."  
  
Rei hid his head underneath the covers as Damodred began filing her thumbnail.  
  
"You can come out of there now. A bed sheet doesn't usually make a good shield."  
  
"At least I have an entire week..." He muttered to himself. Damodred grinned, and began examining the nails on her left hand.  
  
"This, of course, means we'll be making up for lost time."  
  
Rei gulped again.  
  
"Oh, good. They're all even again," Damodred said, before folding up her knife and beginning to put it away. She stopped, and considered for a second. Flicking the blade open again, Damodred lightly tossed it up into the ceiling above Rei's head. The knife stuck.  
  
"Enjoy," she said, getting up. "I'm going to dinner right now. Stare at that, and hope that it doesn't fall while I'm away." she walked to the door, and then offered one final comment.  
  
"The blade's heavier than the hilt. If it falls, you'll be skewered through the eye."  
  
Leaving him with that grisly thought, Damodred went to dinner. She ate steak.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
Overall, Rei did not enjoy his week of rest. Damodred was prominent in his week, and therefore it was not a week to treasure. She didn't do anything major, or outright, but it was the subtle things that got to him the most. The knives suspended above his head (After a while, he realized that they weren't going to fall, but the effect remained the same). The extremely hard to catch insults. The occasional show of temper that served to quiet him down. And, of course, the condescending attitude. By the third day, Rei had gotten the strange feeling that he and Damodred were not going to be the best of friends by any means. Also by the third day, he was allowed out of bed. This signaled a wonderful break- he could rest, and actively try to avoid Damodred! Not that any of it really worked, but Rei had found that he could have at least some peace when he hung around Talien. Although Talien would never tell Rei about Damodred's past, he did inadvertently give her age.  
  
"I've known her for eleven years now, and she really hasn't changed much. She seems to like tormenting you, though."  
  
Rei took it as a compliment.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
Some people describe Hell as a place where the fire will never die. Those people are wrong.  
  
Rei woke up to a quiet thunking sound next to him. He turned around to see a knife sticking out of the wall roughly three inches to the right of his face.  
  
"Good morning, Damodred," He groaned, still trying to complete the act of waking up.  
  
"Morning to you, too," Damodred said form the doorway. "Time to get up!" She pitched another knife at him, which imbedded itself about three inches to the left of his face.  
  
"These things keep getting closer each morning," he commented, still lying down in the bed.  
  
"Yeah, you're right," she commented, tossing one about three inches above his head. "You know, you really should get up soon, before I miss the wall."  
  
"Huh?" he asked, still rather tired.  
  
"Think about it, Rei," she said, readying another knife. "Considering the angle at which I'm throwing these, what's the only way that I could miss the wall?"  
  
Rei bolted out of the bed just in time to avoid the knife that hit exactly where his head was.  
  
"Hey!" he shouted. "I could have been killed there!"  
  
Damodred shrugged. "I threw it after you started to jump up," she said.  
  
   
  
***  
  
Take 1  
  
***  
  
   
  
Rei tried once more to lift the Bastard Sword. Using all of his strength, he managed to lift it above his head. This was when he fell over due to the sudden imbalance. Damodred was on him in under a second. Pain.  
  
   
  
***  
  
Take 2  
  
***  
  
   
  
Using all of his might, Rei swung the mighty Bastard Sword at Damodred. She yawned, sidestepped it, grabbed the blade, and used it to hoist him into the air before pitching him into a corner and beating him silly with the practice swords again. Pain.  
  
   
  
***  
  
Take 3  
  
***  
  
   
  
Rei bent over to pick up the sword, thus lowering any possible guard that he might have previously had. Pain.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
Holding the hookshot, Rei aimed for the overhanging section of roof above the balcony.  
  
"Just remember," Talien told him, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Keep a good grip on the hookshot, and you'll be fine! Steady your hand before you fire, and don't be afraid!"  
  
Rei smiled to himself. "It's... It's not that hard! I can do this!" he said as he depressed the button and fired the chain. The hookshot stuck in the section of roof, and Rei was quickly pulled up with it when it retracted.  
  
Rei held his grip very carefully after the initial ascent, and dropped off and onto the balcony with no difficulty. He retracted the hookshot chain back into its casing. Talien clapped.  
  
"Wow! I did it!" Rei shouted. "I actually did it! Woo-hoo!"   
  
Then the balcony that he was standing on collapsed under him. Pain.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
Rei woke up in that same hospital bed again. He looked to his right to see the familiar sight of Damodred trimming her nails with a knife. It must be some sort of nervous tick, or something.  
  
"The good news is," she began, "The pieces of the balcony broke your fall. They also made your legs look as if a wild Goron had been chewing on them, but nothing's broken and you shouldn't scar. You'll be training again tomorrow."  
  
"What happened?" Rei groaned, vaguely aware of the pain in his throbbing legs.  
  
"Some idiot hadn't done anything to repair the balcony, and it rotted with age."  
  
"Ugh..." Rei groaned again.  
  
"You know," Damodred began, "When Ganondorf split up the Triforce, you must have gotten the Triforce of Screwed, or something."  
  
"Thanks... I think..." he moaned, somewhat preoccupied with the fact that he'd have to train again the next day with his legs feeling like that.  
  
"Oh, and about your legs, they've applied a special healing salve to them. You should feel perfectly fine by tomorrow morning."  
  
Rei breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"Enjoy your short respite."  
  
   
  
***  
  
Take 12  
  
***  
  
   
  
Rei held up the sword to block Damodred's attack. She attacked low. Pain.  
  
   
  
***  
  
Take 17  
  
***  
  
   
  
Damodred didn't even give Rei a chance to pick his sword up. Pain.  
  
   
  
***  
  
Take 22  
  
***  
  
   
  
Rei started running. Pain.  
  
   
  
***  
  
Take 24  
  
***  
  
   
  
Rei clutched the hilt of the Bastard Sword. Any second now, Damodred would charge at him, and he'd get the crap kicked out of him again. He was thinking extremely hard this time about how he could at least defend against one attack so that the training could go on past this point, but as of right now he had absolutely no idea how to succeed. His mind had come up blank. Damodred was too fast, and her technique was incredible. Some of the time, Rei couldn't even see her move before she nailed him. While thinking, he looked down toward the ground, and finally got an idea.  
  
   
  
"Defend yourself!" Damodred shouted, charging. Rei dropped the Bastard Sword, and picked up a medium-sized rock that was on the ground. He pitched it at her, and nailed Damodred dead-center in the forehead, stunning her a little bit. Rei then grabbed both ends of the sword and hefted the thing over his head. Letting out a stressed grunt/yell, he hurled it at Damodred. The Bastard Sword hit her sideways, but succeeded in knocking her off-balance and sending her falling to the floor. Also, her arms were pinned down by it- or so it seemed. Rei then ran and grabbed both practice swords.  
  
"There! I did it! I defended against your charge!" he shouted victoriously.  
  
"Good job," she said, still lying on her back with the massive sword on top of her. "You seem to have finally grasped the finer points of basic ingenuity. However," she said, standing up and leaving the sword on the ground, "I don't need wooden swords to attack you."  
  
She charged him. Pain. But this time, it was a victorious pain.  
  
  


	7. Chpater 7

   
  
CHAPTER SEVEN: ROYAL; NOBLE  
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
It was well into the afternoon when Zelda, the Queen of Hyrule, finally sat down to lunch. For her, the last five years had been more difficult than the previous seven. Although Ganon had long ago been sealed away, and all related violence had been quelled, it had fallen upon this one woman's shoulders to rebuild her entire kingdom. The fact that she had been barely seventeen when she began her rule, and now was only in her early twenties only made the job more difficult. For seven years she had been forced to hide out, awaiting the return of the Hero of Time, and now that he had finally come and done his job it was Zelda's turn to do hers. In seven years, Ganondorf had managed to completely destroy the castle and town square, nearly eradicate the Gorons, turn the Zora kingdom into a frozen wasteland, and make basically everywhere else in Hyrule haunted with the ghosts of his victims. On top of this, Zelda had come into her kingdom during a major famine brought on mainly by the destruction, an economic depression, and extremely low morale among her citizens. In short, five years ago was not a good time to reign.  
  
However, certain situations- the kingdom of the Zoras, for instance- managed to clear themselves up in time with little or no help from the throne of Hyrule. The biggest problem was obviously the famine, but it appeared that without Ganon and his army to destroy things, the earth managed to heal itself. Zelda silently wondered to herself exactly how much of a role the sages had played in that part of the reconstruction. As it turned out, the economic troubles were not as harsh as they had seemed- nearly all of it was centralized in Hyrule's main government. So, throughout it all, Queen Zelda had somehow managed to resurrect the dying embers of her kingdom; and in recent times Hyrule had actually flourished. Truthfully, though, she owed a lot of the credit to those who worked for her- in particular, her political advisors. Her father, the king, had under his command a retinue of thirty-five political advisors, but seeing as how nearly everybody in the palace had been killed by Ganon, Zelda had only three. Among them, only one was a veteran of her father, and at the time he was the youngest and least experienced. Although he was only in his mid thirties, Amadeus de Castillo was invaluable. His entire life- his entire being was noble, honourable; completely dedicated to restoring the world after Ganon's reign. Amadeus had always been considered a prodigy, and in truth, he was advanced far beyond his years in most every subject. In short, he was Queen Zelda's right arm.  
  
The queen spent her lunch in relative silence, eating alone. Of all of the memories associated with Ganon and that stretch of seven years, the most painful, the closest to her heart was when she sent Link back to his home time, seven years before any of this took place. In doing that, Zelda had literally erased the boy's existence from her world, although she created a new timeline where Ganon had never existed... But Link was gone.  
  
Somehow, eating alone did not seem so strange. All royalty must eventually marry, or at least find some suitable heir to the throne, and the gods knew that Zelda had her pick of suitors. But, however... none of them could replace Link, the Hero of Time. Zelda's guess was that she would have to eventually appoint someone as heir instead of actually producing one.   
  
"So, my Queen, would you mind if I sat with you today?"  
  
Zelda started, and looked up. It was Amadeus.  
  
"No.. No, I don't mind at all, Amadeus."  
  
He nodded, and sat down across from her. The two of them ate in silence for a few minutes.  
  
"Still pining, Zelda?" He asked, the first to actually speak.  
  
She looked up at him, and nodded lightly. "You are very lucky to have Miyu," the queen finally said.  
  
Amadeus nodded back to her. "Yes, thank you... Link was an incredible man, wasn't he?"  
  
"He was still a boy."  
  
"But he could also handle the Triforce of Courage."  
  
Zelda sighed, and looked at the Triforce of Wisdom in the back of her hand. Its three-triangle symbol remained there as a testimony to the part of the sacred triangle that she possessed.  
  
"I suppose. As I said, you are truly lucky to have Miyu."  
  
Amadeus nodded again. "She is a remarkable woman."  
  
"Yes, she is. Tell me... How is she doing?"  
  
"Fine, as far as I know."  
  
"As far as you know?" Zelda asked, curious.  
  
"Well," Amadeus began, "It's not exactly easy for us to hide anything from each other... but still, to the best of my knowledge, she is perfectly fine."  
  
"You two have been together for a long time now," Zelda said.  
  
"Since before Ganon," Amadeus replied.  
  
"Appearances have kept you from marrying, since she works for you," Zelda commented, "Is that not right?"  
  
Amadeus nodded. "Yes, my Queen."  
  
"How things appear is entirely in the eye of the beholder," Zelda replied, finishing her meal. She stood up. "I would appreciate your help on some rather pressing matters concerning reconstruction," she said. "Join me in the throne room when you are done."  
  
Amadeus nodded.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
Amadeus spent some time in thought while he finished his meal. The queen had been acting a little... differently lately. She talked about Miyu a lot, and kept alluding to a marriage between Amadeus and his assistant. Marriage was something that he thought about a lot. Frankly, he would have married the girl a long while ago, but several people would have some problems with him if he did. Amadeus decided that he could interpret the queen's words in one of two ways:  
  
"I'm falling for you, Amadeus. Ditch the other girl."  
  
Or  
  
"Marry her, you twit."  
  
Amadeus hoped it was the latter- The though of another woman falling for him wasn't exactly the best thing in the world. The gods knew that he was getting offers from everywhere already. Apparently, there's something wrong with the female psyche that prohibits them from recognizing when you are already taken.  
  
He shook his head. Zelda wasn't likely to be attracted to anybody, anyway. And even if she were, she pines so much for Link that she'd just stifle it in a torrent of Zelda-logic.  
  
"Why does life have to be so complicated?" He asked himself as he kept eating.  
  
Of course, considering how complicated Amadeus' life really was, he had every excuse to make statements like that periodically.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
"You called, My Queen?" Amadeus bowed low, putting his right hand over his heart.  
  
Zelda nodded and brought out a small notebook. "Yes... the first order of business today is concerning the Gorons. It seems that they are having trouble with the "King of Wind," whoever that may be. Apparently he is keeping their king from actually entering his throne room and performing any of the royal functions, while this "Wind King" is eating all of their rocks. What do you suggest we do about it?"  
  
Amadeus folded his arms. "Well, first off, the Goron kingdom is really out of our jurisdiction, but since they asked for help, that's a totally different matter. You could send a detachment of our royal army- but that would seem to much like hostile action against our rock-eating neighbours."  
  
The queen nodded. Amadeus went on.  
  
"However, we could also send some Sheikah over there to handle it. From what I've seen and heard- and no doubt what you've seen, My Lady- they handle things like this on a regular basis. Am I right?"  
  
The queen nodded again. "You are missing one point, Amadeus," She replied. "I cannot order the Sheikah around. I can only suggest missions or quests for them."  
  
"Right. Exactly the point that I was going to bring up," Amadeus stated. "if they decline- which would be a complete surprise- then we would be perfectly within our right to send some soldiers over, or even hire one of those adventurer heroes that we're always hearing about. Either way, we extinguish the threat with minimal casualties, and we strengthen our relationship with the Gorons. How does that sound?"  
  
The queen smiled. "That sounds more than reasonable. I will send someone to contact the sheikah later this evening. Now," she said, turning a page in the book, "As for some of the other matters, the reconstruction of the former castle grounds has come to a complete stop. Apparently the workers can't figure out what to do with that lava pit that Ganon made."  
  
Amadeus thought for a moment. "How deep is the lava pit?" he asked.  
  
"We can't exactly send someone in to check."  
  
Amadeus nodded. "But you do know the limits of Ganon's destructive magic. About how deep would you estimate it is?"  
  
Zelda thought for a moment. "Knowing Ganon, it wouldn't be too deep. I would estimate about forty feet or so before hit cools down."  
  
Amadeus nodded. "If it's that shallow, then it can be cooled down. About how thawed is the Zora Kingdom, My Lady?"  
  
"About two-thirds of the way."  
  
"And is the Ice Cave still there?"  
  
Zelda blinked. "What? You're suggesting that we ship ice down? Amadeus, if we could even transport the ice before it melted, it wouldn't be enough to cool down the lava."  
  
"That's not what I'm suggesting," He said. "The Ice Cave has blue fire in it- cold fire. My suggestion is that we transport as much blue fire as we possibly can, and use it as a coolant on the lava. After the fire has done all that it can, then we should start trying to fill in the hole with rubble from the area and from several of our quarries. It's not that difficult."  
  
Zelda blinked. "That's a perfect idea."  
  
"No, it isn't. There are probably better ideas out there- you just probably don't have the time to find them. That was your father's most common excuse for accepting our advice in the past."  
  
Zelda smiled. "My father was like that."  
  
"Yes, he was. He tried his best to make everyone else look like a bunch of fools, all the while complimenting them to death. It did wonders for one's self image."  
  
They both laughed for a little while. The rest of the day's business went smoothly. It was nothing out of the ordinary.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
It was late in the evening when Amadeus finally got back home. his back ached. he didn't know why it did, but backs were tricky things. You could spend all day getting hit in the back with a giant slab of wood, and your back would be just fine the next day, however if your job consisted of telling the queen how to run her job then your back would be singing you love songs all evening. It made no sense at all.  
  
"Good evening, Miyu," he groaned, settling down into his chair. "How was your day?"  
  
"No different than yesterday," she replied, gliding up behind him. "I filed several forms in the morning, fed Galyer, and then spent a while in absolute boredom. You're home late. How was your day?"  
  
"I spent the morning going through red tape, had an odd conversation with the queen during lunch, and spent the rest of the day telling her how to run the kingdom. She kept me late because her other advisors were all on vacation."  
  
"So... any new and exciting breakthroughs about the kingdom?"  
  
"Blue ice and Sheikah warriors are the wave of the future."  
  
Miyu laughed softly. "Are you sure about that?"  
  
"Why not?" he asked. "According to the queen, I know everything."  
  
She leaned over his shoulder. "And according to me, you can do everything."  
  
"I don't have the Triforce yet," He answered. "And please, please spare the compliments, Miyu. I've been force-fed them all day long."  
  
"You want me to criticize you?" she replied back.  
  
"Not quite. I just have the general feeling of 'ugh' today."  
  
"You too?" She asked him. "My back's been acting up today. Why, I don't know."  
  
Amadeus chuckled to himself. "You too? It must be sympathy pains, then. I feel like I've been folded in half a few times."  
  
"Want a massage?" She asked him.  
  
"Wouldn't you need it more than I would?"  
  
"I don't think it matters one way or the other," she replied.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
Rei's back felt like crap. His day had begun quite simply- Damodred had allowed him to choose the sword that he was going to train with. He had picked a sword similar to Talien's- it looked easy to use, and he liked that style. The rest of the day was spent in actual training, not just a one-way pummeling. Rei still got trashed, though. On the upside, he had learned more about the nature of the blade than he could possibly remember. His learning included more than a small amount that was about Damodred's twin katanas, and how difficult it was to control them at once but also how effective they could be, but he did learn enough about his own weapon that he was beginning to believe that he could hold his own in a fight. Actually, Rei still believed that he'd lose miserably. However, his thoughts were that he'd lose miserably AFTER performing one or two techniques that he actually knew. And hey- that was a good start. One thing that he was glad about, though, was that the next day would be spent with Talien, learning non-sword-related skills. That should be a lot easier.  
  
   
  
***  
  
   
  
Talien glanced over to Damodred. "Do you think he's asleep by now?" he asked.  
  
"Probably," She replied. "It is three in the morning, after all. The perfect time of day to be standing outside, conversing. Isn't it?"  
  
Talien shrugged. "It's good enough. I like the stars, anyway."  
  
"I don't care one way or the other."  
  
"So... Damodred," Talien began. "What do you think of Rei so far? You've spent a lot more time around him lately than I have."  
  
She turned her head and looked at him. "He's an insufferable twit," She said. "Why the hell did you ask him to join, Talien? He has potential, I'll admit it. But he'll never show any of it, the poor fool."  
  
"Don't you think that might be a little too harsh?" he asked.  
  
"Don't you think that you're a little too nice?" she asked back.  
  
Neither one spoke for a few seconds.  
  
"Give him time, Damodred. You'll see what I mean."  
  
"He handles the sword like a three-year-old."  
  
"He's probably never used one before in his entire life."  
  
"That's no excuse- he doesn't even have the pretense of grace that most beginners have. He's worthless so far. However," she added, raising a finger, "Beating him up is a good stress reliever at times."  
  
"Then I guess this means that you're not just being the perennial 'hard Taskmaster,' eh?"  
  
She laughed.  
  
"Did anyone ever tell you that your laugh could stop a man's heart with fear?"  
  
"Of course. I'm thinking about telling a really funny joke around Rei tomorrow. Do you want to be there for it?"  
  
Now it was Talien's turn to laugh. "You're too much, Damodred."  
  
"By whose standard?" she replied back.  
  
Talien yawned. "Go play with your knives or something," he said, "I'm going to bed. It's late."  
  
"Good night, Talien. Get some sleep. The boy's going to wear you out tomorrow."  
  
"Stop calling him that," Talien replied, starting to walk away. "He became an adult before he came here."  
  
"Then he should act like one," She said as her former teacher left. 


End file.
